-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 AT p. 520.
"Above all, O people of Arvel, never pity the beings on Earth. If you do, then sorrow will drown you. They know so little of love. They cannot ever know more."
-Poul Anderson, "The Ways of Love" IN Anderson, Explorations (New York, 1981), pp. 117-147 AT p. 147.
"'They were magnificent once. They could be again. I would love to see them our willing subjects...Unlikely, of course. They're not that kind of species. We may be forced to exterminate.'"
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Young Flandry, pp. 1-192 AT p. 92.
"To explain the concept 'nation' is stiffly upwind...Law and mutual obligation are maintained less by usage and pride than by physical violence or the threat thereof on the part of that institution called the government. It is as if a single group could permanently cry Oherran against the entire rest of society, bring death and devastation wherever it chose, and claimed this as an exclusive right."
-Poul Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979), p. 24.
We make an impression, right?
8 comments:
Paul:
The epilogue of The Demon Breed (original title: "The Tuvela") by James H. Schmitz shows a council of alien warlords who command a mighty fleet deciding that, based on the main events of the story, their fleet not only won't support an attack on the human Federation, but will clobber any other aliens who try to attack humanity. This isn't because of any love for us, but a matter of "let sleeping dogs lie" and "don't poke a wasp's nest." We are the "demon breed" of the title.
David,
Years ago, in DC Comics, an Alien Alliance was formed to attack Earth which was getting too powerful because it had too many superheroes. The Alliance included Thanagar although two Thanagarians were Hawkman and Hawkwoman on Earth.
The Alliance also included a scientific species and a thuggish species and there was this piece of dialogue -
Squat thuggish guy: We like what we do and we do it good.
Tall thin scientific guy: Ungrammatical but incontestable.
Squat thuggish guy: Can the smart talk!
Paul.
David,
Also, a joke group of aliens came to Earth to be defeated by the Justice League of America! The greatest warriors of the galaxy have been defeated by the JLA and these comedians wanted to be among the greatest warriors of the galaxy!
Paul.
Paul:
As the space-alien Orks in the tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000 say, "Orks is made fer fightin' and winnin'!" Reviews often compare W40k Orks to British football hooligans. Their philosophy may be summed up in the words, "Nevah enuf dakka!" (Translation: There is no such thing as enough fully-automatic weaponry.)
David,
Glaswegian graffiti: "Uzz mental boys rule, ok?"
Translation into English: "We rather violent young men control the situation in this area. Is that understood?"
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Very interesting, these bits you collected from the works of Poul Anderson about how non-humans regard mankind. I disagree with both the "tri-bodied" Didonians and the people of Arvel in some ways. I don't think any human would WANT the kind of "oneness" the Didonians have. And my view is that human capability or capacity for love can be just as strong as it is among the Arvelians, but EXPRESSED differently.
CHILLING, the calmly matter of fact way Brechdan Ironrede talked about exterminating an entire intelligent race! And the Ythrian view of human states at least TRIED to be objective, and mostly succeeded.
Sean
David,
I think that "boys" should have been "boyzz." I am not good at street Glaswegian.
Sean,
I would like to live on Avalon in a choth that combined the best of human and Ythrian values. Thus, I would want to downplay at least some aspects of "deathpride."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That might be difficult, considering that Ythrians are carnivorous and FIERCELY territorial. I think "deathpride" comes at least partly because of those characteristics.
More interesting might be what happened if some Ythrians became Christians or Buddhists!
Sean
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